BL> I'm not saying that everyone with high BP has blocked arteries,
 BL> just that in my case I suspect that it was the other way
 BL> around: a blocked artery in the heart caused the high BP. On
 BL> the angiogram, I could see where small veins around the
 BL> blockage had grown to try and bypass it. I hope that the
 BL> blockage was just bad luck, and not something I can expect
 BL> annually.

 JT> Yeah, it gets a bit worring. I've heard of people who have been
 JT> through multiple by-passes. Mind you, they've abused their
 JT> "second chance" quite thoroughly.

  Basically, there are three ways to treat heart disease in 1997.

  If the arteries are rooted in many places, but still getting blood
to the muscle (angina), then they use drug therapy to open the
arteries and thin the blood.

  If the heart arteries are in good shape (like mine) with a single
clotting blockage (myocardial infarct) they use angioplasty with the
balloon to open up the artery or fit a stent if there is a risk of old
clots breaking free.

  If the artery is blocked in several places and basically rooted,
with good heart muscle beyond, then they bypass it so blood gets to
the heart muscle. A really rooted heart sytem (there are three main
arteries) might have multiple bypass. They run blood to good muscle 
wherever i is. Anyone with blocked arteries will end up this way.

 JT> I can feel my pulse as well. My quack tried to imply this is
 JT> not normal. IE, one should not normally feel their own pulse. I
 JT> sometimes feel it more than other times. I've noticed I feel my
 JT> pulse more when I inhale, if I exhale completely, I can't feel
 JT> it.

  It's not normal to be intelligent, either. I can make a pretty
reliable guess at my pulse rate, not by feelign it "pulse," but as a
general impression. I can't do that with BP, though.

 BL> Some of the things are surprising. Every afternoon before tea,
 BL> I water the pot plants. I had thought this was a toally
 BL> relaxing pastime... but it puts up the BP!

 JT> Better not water the plant then. :-)

  (grin) Then I'll get upset when they die. It's a cruel world.

 JT> There is a measureable big difference when I sit cross-legged
 JT> or lay down.

  Lying down is okay for me. I haven't tried cross-legged.

 JT> It's the cuff itself that should be at the same level as the
 JT> heart. The elbow on the table while seated tends to put the arm
 JT> in the right position. 

  Yair. It also takes strain off the muscle.

 BL> The other odd thing is that my heart has large arteries. The
 BL> doctor commented on it (but the actual size he mentioned didn't
 BL> register in my memory). A large *blocked* artery!

 JT> I know the heart grows depending on how much work it does.
 JT> Normally this is not a problem, but it starts causing problems
 JT> with really high BP when the heart grows so big, that the
 JT> arteries around it can't supply oxygen fast enough as the heart
 JT> uses it up quite quickly. You can't "rest" your heart (stop it)
 JT> so this is a major factor.

  Yes... my heart is not enlarged. Apparently, arteries come in
various sizes. They need to measure it to fit a stent.

 BL> In fact, ulcers are caused by a germ. Get rid of the germ...
 BL> ulcer cured forever.

 JT> Is it that some people are more suseptible to this germ, or if
 JT> you get this germ you will have an ulcer, no ifs no buts?

  No... the logic works deviously, which is why it took so long to
identify the germ. 

  Some stomachs are predisposed to excess acid. Some stomachs get
ulcers for this reason alone (about 2%). If your family has the germ
then you will probably pick it up (better hygeine is seeing a natural
reduction in ulcers). The trick is that the germ loves acid! If you
have a non-acid stomach then the germ dies off and causes little
trouble beyond inflammation. If you have an acid stomach the germ
thrives, the inflammation gets worse, and an ulcer forms. Get rid of
the germ, the stomach loses its inflammation, the ulcers heal and
don't come back... in 98% of cases.
  
  You still get upset stomach, however, and abusing your gut can give
you an ulcer without the germ... in 2% of cases.

 JT> But if "normal" for you causes a problem, then it must be
 JT> addressed. If your BP is too high for your own good, then you
 JT> must live an "abnormal" lower BP lifestyle with drugs or
 JT> whatever, or just die from the extra stress your heart was not
 JT> also designed to handle.

  Yes. Most people worry about BP drugs because you have to take them
every day, forever, and no one is sure about the long-term effects. In
my case the choice is simple; take them or kark it.

 BL> The catch is, you *have* to follow the best advice, and it's
 BL> pretty obvious that it's plain good advice anyway: don't smoke,
 BL> low fat diet, steady daily exercise, keep the weight down,
 BL> manage stress. Whatta mongrel.

 JT> Bummer, no more lard sandwiches then. :-(

  I am a chocoholic! Thirty-one days and counting... one day at a
time.

 BL> At your age I weighed 63 kg (19 in the m/d^2 calculation), had
 BL> a low pulse, low BP, under tremendous stress and smoking 60 a
 BL> day. At 35 (1975) I went as close to a nervous breakdown as I
 BL> ever want to go

 JT> Beat you to it. I had my near nervous breakdown about 6-7 years
 JT> ago.

  I think we might have the reason for your high BP! ROFL!! You have
to learn to ration yourself to stress. 

  To make my brain work best I have to "psyche" myself up. It seems
that many people do this (Brenton is another) when we need to hold
seversal things in their mind at once, but since I came home from
hospital I've been taking it *very* easy. I gave up work, I gave up
mail, (I never had any sex anyway), and my BP settled around 130/75
and never went over 140 (for any length of time).
 
  With this UUCP business, I've been writing mail and the mailer
program which takes a bit of concentration, and my BP has risen 5
points. So I stop and read a book or think nice thoughts... but when I
was your age I was running on empty day and night, for years at a
time! In the ned you have to pay...

 JT> My present boss left one job because it gave him the shits.
 JT> Literally. He went every hour on the hour. He was ok after
 JT> work, or on weekends.

  ROFL!!

  It's a strange thing how you force yourself to do things you know
you don't want to do, long-term, and then get surprised when it shows
in your body or your relationships that *force* you to stop for other
reasons. The trouble is that you can't see it when it's happening.
Years later you look back and think "why did I do that?"

 BL> As a consultant I was still under stress and got ulcers.

 JT> What about the germ? Although I know someone else who got
 JT> stress-related ulcers.

  Stress causes acid stomach, the germ likes acid, multiplies, and
makes the healing of any incipient ulcer impossible... which causes
more acid, etc. Without the germ, the cycle breaks and the ulcer gets
a chance to heal.

 JT> Generally the ideal weight covers a range. It depends on your
 JT> build for one thing, and a bit of excess body fat is ok. 

  Actually, they seem to be refining their thoughts to lower limits
for everyone. Seven years ago, the cardiologist said 83Kg was okay for
me (Wt = 25 * ht^2). Now they say 75kg because the heart condition
exists, even though I'm older.

Regards,
Bob
 

     



 

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